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Arkansas issues licenses for same-sex marriages

By Christina HuynhAssociated Press

Posted:
05/10/2014 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
05/10/2014 10:27:09 PM CDT

Jennifer Rambo, right, of Fort Smith, Ark., kisses her partner Kristin Seaton, left, of Jacksonville, Ark., following their marriage ceremony in front of the Carroll County Courthouse as Sheryl Maples, far left, the lead attorney who filed the Wright v. the State of Arkansas lawsuit, looks on Saturday, May 10, 2014, in Eureka Springs, Ark. Rambo and Seaton were the first same-sex couple to be granted a marriage license in Eureka Springs after a judge overturned Ammendment 83, which banned same-sex marriage in the state of Arkansas. (AP Photo/Sarah Bentham)

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. -- Gay marriage arrived in the Bible Belt on Saturday, beginning with two women who had traveled overnight to ensure they'd be first in line.

"Thank God," Jennifer Rambo said after Carroll County Deputy Clerk Jane Osborn issued a marriage license to her and Kristin Seaton, a former volleyball player at the University of Arkansas. The Fort Smith couple wed moments later on a sidewalk near the courthouse; the officiant wore a rainbow-colored dress.

In total, 15 licenses were issued for same-sex couples in northwest Arkansas' Carroll County, Osborn said.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza paved the way Friday with a ruling that removed a 10-year-old barrier, saying a constitutional amendment overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2004 banning gay marriage was "an unconstitutional attempt to narrow the definition of equality." Piazza's ruling also overturned a 1997 state law banning gay marriage.

But because Piazza didn't issue a stay, Arkansas' 75 county clerks were left to decide for themselves whether to grant marriage licenses.

Rambo, 26, and Seaton, 27, were the first gay couple to be legally married. They arrived about 2 a.m., slept in a Ford Focus and awoke every half-hour to make sure no one else would take a spot at the head of the line.

As dawn came, no one was certain any clerk would issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. Initially, deputy clerk Lana Gordon said she wasn't sure she had the authority and shooed people from her office.

"We just walked out of here crying," Rambo said.

When Osborn intervened, other same-sex couples let Rambo and Seaton return to their place in line.

"And some of these people here have been waiting 50 years and they still instructed us to come up front," Rambo said.

It wasn't immediately known whether other counties issued licenses Saturday. Several were open for early primary-election voting but staffers said they were not prepared to issue marriage licenses.

"The court didn't give us any time to get the kinks worked out," Villines said.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said he would appeal the ruling and asked it be suspended during that process. No appeal had been filed as of Saturday afternoon.

The U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that a law forbidding the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. Using language similar to that from the Supreme Court, state and federal judges nationwide have struck down other same-sex marriage bans -- ruling against bans in Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Texas, and ordering Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

Eureka Springs, an Ozark Mountain town of about 2,000, is known for its arts environment and liberal policies in the otherwise conservative northwest Arkansas.